The CDL Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse final rule, which would establish a database of CDL holders who have failed or refused to take a drug test, will soon be published after the rule cleared the White House’s Office of Management and Budget on Monday, Oct. 31.

The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association's main reasoning behind the exemption requests was the difficulty the drivers face finding parking for such large vehicles, which sometimes forces drivers to park on the shoulders of roads to comply with hours rules, the group says.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued the two-year exemption that will go into effect Oct. 27 after the Missouri Department of Revenue requested the exemption earlier this year. The exemption effectively gives military truck drivers credit for their military training.

The comment period for the rule expires at the end of the day Monday, Nov. 7. The rule would require trucks weighing more than 26,000 pounds to use speed limiting devices, but it didn’t specify a speed to which the trucks would be governed.

Of the nearly 3,000 comments made on the Department of Transportation's proposed rule to mandate speed limiters on heavy trucks, many are from truckers opposed to the rule. Commenters cite congestion, danger of variable speeds and overburdensome regulations as the key reasons for opposition to the mandate.

The new president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations has signaled he intends for the group to take a more aggressive stance against trucking regulations and anti-truck safety groups as head of the trucking lobbying firm.